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Northern Star (1837-1852), 10th November 1849, Edition 2 of 3, Page 7, ARRIVAL OF SIR JOHN ROSS PROM TBE ARCTIC...

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      Financial And Parliamentary Statementand...

      • NQVBMttEE 10 , 1849 . ¦ •?¦ •" - THE NORTHERN STAR 7 " m *^ \ ; __—^ ¦ _ - ' ' ! ¦ ~ * ~ "" ¦ - - ^^ . - *¦ . ¦¦ . .. ¦ . f mmmm ^ ~ r * * ' T r ~ mmmm T ~? 3 F ' ~~ ^^ . mmm * — ¦ ——¦¦—* p— ^ g

      Financial And Parliamentary Befobm. [Spe...

      FINANCIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY BEFOBM . [ SPEECH OF MR . BRIGHT , AT MANCHESTER . ] Mr . J . Bright , M . P ., was then introduced to the meeting , and was received with enthusiastic cheering . He said : It is impossible for me to look upon this large , assembly without feeling cheered by the conviction that it may be taken as a manifestation of the existence of a sound and healthy political feeling in this great town and district . For we have met here to inquire and to discuss . We are met , to spread so much as lies in our power , sound opinions on questions most important for us to understand ; and for the purpose of advancing princi p les and a knowledge which we believe to be essential for the contentment and permanent prosperity of this conn-TTWAiffnriT . iicn i > ai * tj ' aiuwtaiiv

      try . And I doubt whether there has ever been a time when it was more necessary that we should meet than the present ; for , looking over a very considerable portion of the earth ' s surface , liberty does not seem to be in high feather . A great portion of the continent of Europe is now groanin / under a military despotism ; and we have found that those who arrogate to themselves the title of powerful organs for the expression of the public opinion of this country have been most enthusiastic to support most grievous and appalling wrongs inflicted on certain continental countries . And 1 know not why we should suppose that these same parti , s would hot be equally ready to uphold and to justify acts of a like infamous and wicked nature . - were it safe io practice

      than , within the limits of this kingdom . I am , therefore—whilst I sympathise to the utmost possible degree with all those persons who in any part of the world , are struggling for freedom — disposed to look at home , and to recommend to my fellow countrymen not to lose sight of that which remains to be done with regard to the institutions and the government of our own country . We are here a meeting for the purpose of advocating Financial and Parliamentary Reform , and our worthy chairman has said that the question of Financial Reform was a very wide question , inviting us to investigate and inquire into nearly all departments ofthe public Service . He pointed out the-colonies , and reference has been made to our military establishments . Now , I am

      disposed to confine myself very much , on this occasion , to a very partial discussion—for it can only be partial—of that question which I believe at this moment is of mo .- e pressing importance to the welfare ofthe United Kingdom than any other question to which your attention could possibly he called—I mean to the condition of an island which we forget to be in existence , but which is equal in extent of population to one ^ thirdofthis great United Kinpr ' om —tbe island of . Ireland . ; ( Hear , hear ,- and cheers . ) It needs no ingenuity to show that the topic to which I ask your attention is intimately connected with the objects of this meeting . If 40 , 000 soldiers are maintained in Ireland , chiefly out ofthe taxes paid by the people of Great Britain the people of Great Britain

      have a right to know why they are there , and if it be necessary that they should be there . Aud bear in mind that your men who are afraid of a Russian fleet or a French fleet , or of Russian of Ftench armies , have nothing to say in behalf of those 10 , 000 men in Ireland . .. For they are not thereto keep oflfa foreign foe—no man pretends it . They are there because Ihe i-eople of Ireland either are , or are supposed to he , net indifferent only , but hostile to the institutions of this United Kingdom , and hostile to the power and the government of the Imperial Legislature . . I -kUL suppose for a moment that this audience never heard of Ireland—and in truth , for what a very large portion of ns know of i » , I believe we might as well have never heard of it ; for ,

      notwithstanding all that bas been written in the newspapers of its miseries and its wrongs . I believe those of us best acquainted with its condition have most inadequate notions of the sorrows and oppression which the people of tbat "unhappy country have endured . ( Cheers . ) I will suppose that yon never beard of Ireland , and tbat you are told for * the first timethat within four hours' steaming of Holyhead there is an island comprising 24000 , 000 or more of acres of land —an island of vast antiquity as regards the « sUtenee of a population upon it , and as regards its historyan island whose soil is represented by all writers and all persons acquainted with it to be the most favourable for tbe production of everything necessary for the sustenance of man whose climate is asfavourable

      as its soil—an island whose harbours arccertainly of an unsurpassed , if they are not of an unequalled , character for ihe prosecution of an extensive foreign commerce ; whose rivers , I believe , wien we take into consideration the surface of the island , are not equalled by the riversof any country in ihe world in their adaptation for « n extensive internal commerce —an island which has large cities , as large as the larger class of cities in this country . ;' which has a population : or at least bad not long age , of not less than 8 , 000 , 000 of souls—and more than all this , an island which for many centuries past has been influenced by the British Crown , and for 160 years at least has enjoyed tbe mysterious benefits of our glorious constitution . ( Cheers and laughter . ) Now ,

      if you had never heard of Ireland till to-night , and I had given you this description of its aatural advantages , what would you expect ? Why , certainly , that it was a model eountry—that industry was visible in it on every-band , wealth accumulating , the peosle orderly and contended ; and , in { joint of fact , that it might be pointed to by other nations as a country that offered an example well worth following- But now what are tbe lacts , if we come to « - amine them ? And fet we observe , tbat ^ I am now going to speak of Ireland as it exists at this moment ; because I know whatanswer would be made by persons who want always to shift their responsibility on to somebody eke . They-say the famine is not the effect of laws or goTeranient , but is a ^ calamity sent

      from heaven for some , mysterious purpose that we are not acquainted with , and that we mest bear it as an evil tbat we can ' t escape . But I ask yon to consider what Ireland was before the famine . "We will not have the crime wfeida attaches to the < condition of that country laid to the door of a beneficent Omnipotence . We will bring it home to the Legislature , the Parliament , the -constitution of this United Kingdom , and there and ihere only ; and if you look to' our inattention to tins state of things in past Tears , there and there enly will yon lay theblame of this state of things . At the latter end of May of 1843 the government of Sr R . Peel very jroperly appointed a commission to investigate the « ondition of Irelwdi Its attention was particularly directed

      to the tenure of land in that country . There have been a great many other commissions , but they have been of little or no use . as I shall show you before I have done . 1 hope , however , that some good may come out of this commission at last . I will give you one or two facts which tbat commission stated in its report , to show what was tbe condition of Ireland then . In the year 1844 , a year of remarkable prosperity for Great Britain , they state , with respect to the dwellings and houses in which a population of 8 000 . 000 lived , that in Ihe county of Down—a county the best circumstanced in this respect—jet in county Down there were twenty-four families out of every 100 living in houses unfit for human habitation ; thatin the county of Kerry , and thence

      to the extreme south-west , sixty-six families out of everv hundred were living in houses unfit for human habitation ; and thatif yon take the whole population of Ireland , exclusive of the towns , the average is that fcrtv-three families out of every imnrfred were firing ufhonses unfit for human habitation . Well , now , that is one fact which leads to a great many other facts , or at fehstyou may infer a great deal from it . Men do not live in hovels in which you would not put your dog , or your pigs , because they Kke them—they do not live in hovels because , although they are able to pay a £ 10 rent , they are unwilling to do it . And these miserable hovels may be taken as a standard of their condition , not only n « reeards their houses , but as regards everything

      else—fhev may betaken asindication of their social eonditionl But this same commission , over which lord Devon presided , declares , in the broadest manner , that with respect to industry it was almost unknown in Ireland ; that a vast proportion ofthe population—to be calculated not by thousands , tut by millions- ^ are for a considerable probation ofthe year without employment , and consequently without the regular means of living ; that there was scarcely sucha thing in Ireland as a rate of wages atatt-4 d ., 6 < L , 8 d ., a day ; and 10 d . ' is an extra--Rigant and magnificent rate pf wages ; and at these sums a very small portion of the people are able to obtain regular employment . Well , of course oanperism must overspread the land , and so it does ; IndL in point of feck all over the country there is amongst nearly all the people that aspect of penury in the worst

      and pauperism which never , even timesfmeets the eye in this sometimes ^ mg district . The Devon commission showsi also that ontrageswerevei 7 fi ^ uentraIrel and . *«»»*»* Sag £ e that nobWconimits ontrage * w Ireland Enfcthe " hoys"in Tipperary . ( A laugh . ) 1 neferei ^ ma y be found / from tbe evidence > taken be-^ sssm & v & jg SStry and tenantry are not secured entirely £ & r &^ ' $£ g £ z manfuUy-no , not manfully , that is not tlis term but how submissively they have borne ?* ™»*™ lueh they have had ' to endure . Here uian extoet Mm tfaatwork which it may be worth **&* ?** t rj this meeting . [ Here the honourable g ^ mon Svethe extract , which , in effect , ranthu s :--The Commission's report stated that a reference to the AvMenceof most ofthe witnesses would show that SSSrfcStaal labourer in Ireland continued to

      tS & r the irreatest privations and hardships . Ana * £ 5 n 2 Shto depend on casual and precarious SSS ^^ aMtts - ^ SSfseMaftwssg S 2 ?&* d a mdwhblftonfimuwtftn *

      Financial And Parliamentary Befobm. [Spe...

      statement ; and I cannot forbear expressine my strong sense of the patient endurance which the labouring . classes ; there have generally exhibited underisufferings greater , I believe , than any other country in Europe has had to sustain . I don't hope to be able to say anything more conclusive on this subject than what is stated in the report of this eminent commission . Now that was the condition of Ireland before the famme ? "What is its condition now ? Why , of course every oneof theseparticulars is aggravated to a fri ghtful extent except one . So large a proportion of human beings may not be living in these houses unfit for human habitation ; for a large proportion of those thus Bving in that year are not now on the face of the earth at all . ** f « r ^««* - - « , t t ** mLl * « . i _ . '»* " ;

      Ann tnose novels which they inhabited have been levelled to the ground , or now stand in ruins to attest the . poverty and the suffering of the people , and , in many eases it must be admitted / the cruelty and injustice of the proprietary classes . ( Loud cheers . ) Now , we have heard of the famine in Ireland ; but living here , we have known nothing of it . The word "famine" does not convey at all to our minds what famine in Ireland is . Famine there has struck down thousands of men , women , and children ; and pestilence has come , afterwards to . glean what famine had left unreaped . ( Cheering . ) Still there are districts in Ireland where respectable persons will affirm that one-third of the population , and often more , have fallen victims during the last

      three or four years' famme . Well , then , we have had an extensive emigration going on from that country . ' I do not at this moment recollect the figures , but hundreds of thousands of Irishmen have escaped to foreign countries ; and I have heard it stated , by men well entitled to give an opinion on this subject , that were it possible now to offer to all Irishmen the means—the bare means—of going to another hemisphere , one half the population of that devoted Island would flee from the country of their birth , and settle in another land—there to cherish hostility towards every one of the institutions of the country which denied them the means of subsistence where , they were born . ( Hear and cheers . ) Tou have heard of the union workhouses hi

      Ireland ? I have seen and visited a large number of them . They are the largest houses' almost that you meet with in passing through tho country . They are crowded , and nave been so for three or four years past , with vast . multitudes of -these miserable wretches . Here I have it stated that on the 5 th of June , 1849 , there were two hundred and thirtyseven thousand of the population of Ireland in the union workhouses . ( Here , here . ) Six thousand five hundred of these were boys ; and sixty-six thousand three hundred girls , under eigeteen years of age ; and , at the same time , there were seven hundred and fifty-eight thousand of the people receiving , not casually , but almost permanently , during many months , the most inadequate

      substance in the shape of out-door rebef . Sow , as we have spoken of these cottages or hovels , whose inmates are no longer there , m passing through some half-dozen ofthe countries , especially in the western portion of Ireland , such as Kerry , Limerick , Clare , Galway , Mayo , you see hundreds—nay , I am within the mark if I say thousands of ruined cottages and dwellings of the labourers , peasantry , and small holders of Ireland . You see on the road , perhaps , twenty houses without a roof on them . I came to a village not far from Castlebar where the system of eviction had been carried out only a few days before . Five women came about ns as our car stopped ; and on making inquiry , they told ns their sorrowful story . They

      were not badly clad . They were cleanly in appearance . They were intelligent . They used no violent language , but in the most moderate language told us that on the Monday week previous their five houses bad been levelled . They told us how many children they had in their families . I recollect one said she had she had eight , and another that she had six ; that the husbands of three of them were in this country for the harvest ; that they had written to their husbands telling them of the desolation of then- homes ..-1 asked what did their husbands say in reply ? They said , " We have not been able to eat any breakfast . " ( Sensation . ) It is but a simple observation , but it marks the sickness and the sorrow that came over the hearts ofthe men while

      here toiling for their three or four pounds , denying themselves almost rest at night , that they might have a good reaping at this harvest , and go back and enjoy it in the home they had left . But that is but a faint outline of what has taken place in that unhappy country . I verily believe that there arc thousands of human beings who have died—and died speedily—within the last two or three years as a consequence of the evictions which have occurred —evictions , too , which I altogether deny to have been necessary foTtbesaivation'Of the proprietors , for they are as likely to ruin the property as any course which they themselves , or their forefathers , may have taken with regard to it . ( Cheers . ) And there are outrages jet in Ireland . In the papers ,

      within tbe last fortnight , you find that a respectable gentleman was shot in open day , on Sunday morning , on his way to church—shot , too , while two men were within two yards of him , and one , hi fact , with bis shouWeragamst his saddle . The man who fired was seen stooping in going through the garden to make his escape , while two . , other men were seen walking and passing rapidly over a bog , who were supposed-to be the assassins . Why were the assassins not apprehended ^ / Because -of the rottenness there is in the whole' of " society in these districts . ; because ofthe sympathy which exists on the ptrl of the great bulk of the population , with those who by dreadful acts of vengeance are supposed to be the conservators of the rights of . the

      tesast , and who give him that protection which the Imperial Legislature , has denied him . ( Cheers . The fest thing that-ever called my .- attention to the condition of Ireland , was reading an account of one of these outrages . I thought of it for a . few momenta .. The truth struck me at once , and all' that I have seen since bse -confirmed my previous impression . . Whenlaw refuses its duty-H ( hear , heat —when government -denies : their rights to a people —when the competition is so fierce for a little land from the monopolists-of the soil , in order that it may be cultivated—when there is « uch a keen scramble even for a potatoe—when the people are driven back from law , and the usages of civilisation to what has been termed the law of nature and

      revenge —( hear , hear)—and to my certain knowledge the people of Ireland believe that it is only to these acts of vengeance , periodically committed , that they can hold in suspense the arm of the proprietor and ofthe agent , who , ia too many cases , if they dared , would exterminate them . At this moment there is a state of war in Iceland . Don't let us disguise it—war between landlord and tenant as fierce , as relentless as if it were carried on boldly , in open day . by force of arms . There is a suspicion between landlord and tenant there not known to any class in this country ; and there is a hatred , too , which Ibelive , under the present and past system pursued in Ireland , can never bchealed or eradicated . Of course , under such a' state <) f things , where

      industry is destroyed , the rights of property are destroyed too ; and the consequence is , that even the landlords ofthe most just and honest intentions , cannot but feel the effects of this . That they should be resident on the property is necessary even for the . advantage of the tenants themselves ; but in many instances because ofthe terrorism which prevails in the counties , landlords of the better class have been obliged to absent themselves . If T , or orany other man , could point out how this is to he remedied—if he could place his linger on the cause of it , and tell the country and the Parliament , " there is the cause , and there is the remedy , " even though he and 1 were mistaken in the view we took , I should not be doing my duty to you and the

      country , as a member of Parliament , if I dtdn t take an opportunity of pointing out what I believe to be that cause , and what I believe to be a sufficient remedy . Now , I shall be met—we have all been met—in discussing those questions with two propositions ; first ofaU , there is "something" so radically wrong with the Irish race that you can make nothing of them —( a laugh)—and secondly , that there is " something" in the Roman Catholic religion which renders it impossible for its professing people to be prosperous . Well , I deny both of these propositions . ( Cheers . ) I want to know how it is that thousands , nay hundreds of thousands of Irishmen , who can make no progress in their own country succeed so admirably in the United States ? want to know how it is that

      ( Hear , hear . ) I men who leave Ireland with no more than is necessary to transport them across the Atlantic , mafewmonths , or within a year or two , send back a sufficient sum of money to bring over then * families and then * relations ? Iwanttoknow how it is that very large sums are invested in the Irish saving" banks ? And how it is that men go to stockbrokers , and sharebrokers , to invest t heir five hundred pounds , Or their two , or their three thousand pounds occasionally , in stocks or funds , and declare that there is nothing where they live , or about them , in which they dare invest the money which they have accumulated . Iflrishrr-encangeton in America why ca n ' t they in Ireland ? I believe a change of legislation for Ireland would , within the next ten years , bring back Irishmen from America to their native country . ( Cheers . ) And as to then * religion , are

      not the people of Belgium of the same religion as Irishmen ? Are the people of loai hardy not of the same faith ? Do Irishmen , when they go to tbe United States repudiate the faith which they held in their native country ? So ; and yet the belief of ChrUtianity ,: as professed by Roman Catholics , is not known in those countries to be injurious to the cultivation of the land or to the diffusion of property , or to the promotion of prosperity . ( Cheers . ) But there is a class in Ireland which is not Soman Catholic , and that is the landed proprietors . Ttey are Protestants chiefly . Now I ask you , if they of all the persons in " Ireland have alone performed their duties to the population and their country . ( A Voice : " No , no " ?) Are they not as deeply embarrassed as it is possible for men in thoir circumstances to be ? And are they not held up to the

      Financial And Parliamentary Befobm. [Spe...

      eye , not of this country only , but to that of all people in the world , as the class of all others which has been most grossly negligent ofthe duties which it ought io have performed . Well , then , we will dismiss this slander on a faith which is , I believe , professed at this moment by very much the largest proportion of those who profess Christianity throughout the world . Now , the true cause of the present condition of Ireland is to be found in the blunders and in the crimes of legislation . ( Cheers . ) I don ' t intend to go in detail into the politics of this question further than , ' to some extent , with regard to the economical branch of it . There is , in Ireland , that worst of all . moriopolies , a monopoly of land ; and in addition to all the , ordinary evils of

      monopolies , Irish land monopolists are bankrupt , reckless , powerless for anything like good . You have heard probably over and over again , that property in Ireland has been confiscated repeatedly . I have extracted two or three facts with respect to this confiscation which it may be worth your while to hear . In the reign of Queen Elizabeth , about 6000 , 000 Irish acres were confiscated ; and on that occasion what was called the " plantation" of Munster took place . ( Hear , hear . ) An Irish acre is about the same as a Lancashire acre . The parties placed on this land were to pay twopence or threepence per acre . Every 1 , 200 acres were to have located upon them eiehtjr-six families ; and

      no native Irish —( hear , henr )—weie to be admitted among the tenantry . In the time of James 1 . the " plantation " of Ulster took place , when more than five hundred thousand acres were seized , chiefl y from the Earls of Connel and Tyrone , and planted to a large extent by London companies and other-parties . Special instructions were given not to suffer any labourer who had taken the oath of supremacy to dwell on' the land—shutting out , of course , every one professing the Roman Catholic religion . Eleven years later , in the same reign , 385 , 000 acres ) wereseized in Leinster , and " settled " chiefly by English people . To the followers of Cromwell more than 600 , 000 Irish acres were apportioned . After the revolution of 1688 , and during

      the reign of King William III ., - not less than one million and sixty thousand Irish acres were confiscated and apportioned among his partisans and favourites . Lord Claro , on ' « The Union , " states that , taking altogether the reign of James I ., and the land set out ( as though it were guilty of crime ) at the time of the restoration , and the confiscation after the revolution of 1688 , not less than eleven millions of acres in Ireland have at one time or other been confiscated—those in possession being ejected , and others " settled " on the land instead . Well now , observe that all that was for the purpose of putting down the Roman Catholic religion , and extirpating Irishman ; and yet Irishmen have Ireland ) still , and the Roman Catholic religion has

      grownup from its lowest state , and overspread every county . At the present moment I do not believe that there is a single county in Ireland where it has not a considerable majority . Well , from all this came vast estates to the proprietors , which were handed down from that day to this ; and from that time succeeded penal laws—laws of cruelty and ferocity—of which I believe barbarous nations the most uncivilised can have no knowledge . If it would not take up too much time , I could read to you a few pages from the History of Ireland . ( A Voice : " Go on . " ) I was not aware of tbe cruelties that had been perpetrated . Here is one case , where no Roman Catholic was allowed to have in his own possession , or in that ot any other man ft * his use , anyhor ' se of the value ; of £ 5 . And any Protestant disclosing such a fact to a magisr trate might , with the assistance of a constable ^ break open any door , seize such . horse , brine : the

      case before the justice , and , on payingfive shillings , might have the horse as if it hadbeenbougbtby him . in open market . This was only as far back as 1706 —the reign of Queen Anne—the time , in fact , of the grandfathers of some of the audience now present . Not so long ago , if a Roman Catholic lent money to a Protestant , if ho lent £ 10 , 000 on a mortgage of an estate , by a certain facile process of law , the Protestant could shuffle off the debt and appropriate the £ 10 , 000 to himself , and thus defraud the man of his due . The Roman Catholics were not allowed to buy land or hold it on lease except for a certain number of years . It was regarded as a privilege if he were allowed to hold ten acres of bog for sixty , years . In point of fact , there is not an atrocity , which you can imagine or describe that has not , by one p arty or another , been practised on tbat country , since the time when it came directly and entitely under the government of what we call the British " constitution . "

      ( Cheers . ) You can imagine , perhaps , the effects on the tenure of land , and on the character of the people , which must arise from such a state of things ; and we are guilty of having continued to some extent some of those unfavourable influences . We have maintained—the united parliament have maintained—laws that have bolstered up the tenure of land , and tbe possession of land , is now very much as left after these great confiscations . To this lam disposed to attribute to a very large extent the unfortunate circumstances which now prevail in Ireland . I shall give a few facts to show the state of things as to the land now . Such < i thing iis you call the purchase of a " piece " of land is unknown in Ireland .

      ( Hear , hear , hear . ) You may hear of the , purchase of large estates of . thirty or forty thousand acres '; but of the purchase of afield , or . five , ten " or twenty acres—why , a man who has lived long in Ireland has never heard of it taking place in his neighbourhood ; the property ia all in the hands of large proprietors . Wherever you stand and ask ; " Whose land is this ? " you are told that it is Lord A . ' s , or Lord B . ' s j or Mr . C . ' s , and that it is one or other of such a gentleman ' s—as far as you can seefive , eight , ten , or twenty miles across the country , as the case may be . And these gentlemen for the most part appear to know nothing either of the duties which attach to them as proprietors , or of their own true interests as regards the management of their

      estates , what is tbe result ? That in Ireland there is virtually a mono ' ply of the soil in the hands of a very few large proprietors . And by reason of a succession of incumbrances , mortgages , and judgments , these large proprietors are quite helpless , even to sell any portion of the land ; for if a man have an estate in each of ten counties of Ireland , and every estate is worth £ 5 , 000 that is a total of £ 50 , 000 a year , and he have ' * judgment debts" on the property , he could not sell a single vard of any of his estates in any one of the counties , because the whole of the judgment debts attach to every ' particular , acre which he possessed at the time they were contracted , and extend to all which he may in future buy or become possessed of . This man ,, therefore , is * bound hand

      and foot ; and the whole island is under a net work of restrictions with regard to the land , and with regard to the people and their industry . The consequence is , the people , though they live on the land , have no interest in it ; they arc not the possessors of their country , but merely sojourners there and pilgrims . And it would seem that neither the Irish proprietors , nor the Imperial Legislature , care a single straw ( or have not till lately , ) what becomes of this vast and suffering people . Well , it is not to be wondered at . I ' confess I do not wonder at itthat there are disturbances in Ireland . . I believe the reason wh y there are more disturbances in Tipperary than in Mayo or in Galway , is , that the population of Tippe . * ary are of a more sturdy , and hardy

      character , and have made greater resistance to the pressure of those evils than has been made by the less hardy and less determined population of the more western counties . Now this is ihe " old " . system that has been carried on ; and I ask you what are the results—results which you cannot look upon without sorrow and humiliation ? "It has been kept up to maintain and support the whole families - the great houses , and large estates , and what they call the " old blood . " Why , what has become of this " old blood ? " It don't flow how . It is stagnant , and , in fact , no ruin has been greater than what has befallen the old families which belong to that country . Well now , we come to the new BJ 8 ' em , for I think it is high time for tbe reversal of this policy .

      My proposition is this—tbat so far as regards the land itself—the soil—every law of every kind that has for its object the bolstering up ofthe holding oflarge properties in any families in particular—every law which has for its object not the economical advantage of the people ; but the sustension of feudalism and siistoctaey—that all those laws should be withdrawn and repealed , and the soil should become and remain as free as a" chattle "—as free to buy and sell . ' as tjbe horse in the stable , or the furniture in the house . ( Loud cheers ) I would have applied to landed proprietors the laws of bankruptcy that are applied to traders ; and if a man " did not pay his debts , or give sufficient security . that they should be paid by a certain time ; I would have his estates ( if his creditors

      wished it ) handed over to the official assignee , and have whatever he was in possession of equally , fairly , and honestly devided among those to whom lie owed money . ( Cheers . ) Arid What Would be the result ? Why , that precisely as regards all other descriptions of property free t » be purchased and sold , land would become the property of those who could give value for it—who cou'd hold it independently—who could hold it for their own aud the nation's advantage * , and instead of these vast estates being , as you find them now , aliiiost deserted as to cultivation , you would have every degree of estate , from that of the man who holds his single freehold acre , to him who holds

      twenty thousand , and men would hold land in proportion to their industry , their prudence , and their virtues , and those qualities which render them of advantage as members of a civilised community . ( Cheers ) But there is one other thing most necessary . I wish it were possible for me to go into some details with regard to the insecurity which tenants feel in the soil . The landed proprietors of Ireland , by a sort of tacit agreement , do not give leases to Roman Catholic tenants . Roman Catholic tenants frequently vote against Protestant landlords ; -and sometimes against the others : and as the land is intended by the " constitution" to grow both rents and votes—( cheers and laughter )—tbey don ' t like one without being at the same timelsurc of the other ,

      Financial And Parliamentary Befobm. [Spe...

      ( Renewed laughter . ); Now , there is , at the present moment , throughout Ireland , an insecurity , of tenure impossible lor words to describe . But it maybe said to be almost the universal practice -I know it will ' be denied in the House of Commons , but it is nevertheless true—as true as there are . Catholics in Irelandit is almost the universal practice for tbe landlord to avail himself of all the advantage of all the investments and improvements made by the tenant ; and in Ireland the landlord does not do like the landlord in England . lie gives the tenant the bare land , ' with no more on it of capital invested than there is in this paper which I hold in my hand . ¦ Not a building , not a drain probably , hardly a fence stands upon it . Everything is in a state of nature ; ' and whatever the

      tenant does—whether he pleases to build a fence , dig a drain , or dig a bog , the canon law and the statute law says that it all becomes , the property of the proprietor . There are . men who hire been tenants many years in Ireland , and done as little as was possible in the way of improvement , naturally feeling that their property would thereby , immediately become the proprietor ' s ; and bear in mind Irish are not like English proprietors . Though we have said harsh things sometimes of English proprietors on this platform , there is a very great difference between them , as they don't interfere in . the smallest degree with the management of their property . It would be unsafe to do it , so they live abroad or in Englandor in Dublin . The

      , , man abroad has a' man in Dublin , and the man in Dublin has an agent , and the agent has a sub-agent , The man abroad writes home for money once a quarter , or every six months , and " must have it" if he can have it ; and thus from proprietors , agents , sub agents , and bailiffs , a screw of the most powerful . characteris readyto seize on every investment the tenant makes on the laud . I saw cises myselfthey were pointed out to me by parties of whom I did not ask a question—where the land was cultivated and entirely reclaimed , and made a fruitful garden of . They were some small plots , and directly improvements were made , somebody came and offered five shillings an acre more rent , and the man who had enriched the land . was turned adrift , I was told

      in Wexford , by teuanta , that they , had very long leases which had expired , and then the rent was doubled—and doub ! ed , too , from the impovements made in their previous tenure . The Devon Commission says , one such instance is enough to discourage all the tenants of a district ^ My honest opinion isthis , the very first act which Parliament ought topass for Ireland , is an act to give security for compensation to the tenants of Ireland for the visible , tangible , measurable improvements they may make onthe property ( Cheers . )! believeif that were done , so many hundreds of thousands of these men wou-d not be living in the miserable hovels ' they do now . : They would build better houses , if they knew that th « . y would not immediately become the property ofthe landlord

      without compensation . 1 believe too their families would feel tbat every stone they gathered from the land , every particle of manure they carted or wheeled , every j drain they laid , every weed they rooted up , was doinrSbmething towards a future investment , and thatthe agent and ihe landlord would not take and enjoy the fruits of their industry ( Cheers . ) 1 believe there are no great difficulties in Ireland , in the way of her pacification , but that ' the difficulties which exist , exist entirely under the constitution of Parliament , and . in the indisposition of an aristocratic legislature to interfere with a system which had its origin , and was maintained , not ' for the good ofthe people ,- but for the sustentation of an heveditaiy aristocracy ( Loiid cheers . ) You would bo amazed

      to see how much Parliament knows about Ireland , and how little it : does ( Laughter . ) It has had inquiries and committees since 1810 : in 1811 , 1819 . 1823 , 1826 , 1827 , 1830 , 1832 , 1835 ; another in 1835 , and one in 1840 . Then in 1844 came this very Devon Commission that I have quoted . In all these years there have been commissions or committees that have made inquiries on topics either intimately ^ ov remotely connected with Ireland . A vast deal of information has been offered to Parliament ; and what as it done ? Very little , and that little would not have been done but for the pressure of famine . Parliaments nevermoves—atleast Ihave never seen it move—on any question that effects favourable the liberties and rights : 'of tho people—except when it

      dreads u convulsion , It will move only when the people themselves move first , as in 1832 , and as they did again in 1816 on the ¦ Corn-law , when we had famine on our threshold ( Cheers . ) Now , too , under the like pressure , it as done something' to promote the sale of encumbered estates '; and yesterday the commission for the purpose commenced its sittings in Dublin ; and though in certain quarters I have seen suspicions raised with regard to the men who form that commission , yet 1 say , from t > e knowledge 1 have of them—and I think I have a right to say it—that the government . never acted with greater integrity and fairness than it did in nominating that commission . Probably it is not possible to appoint three

      better men to carry out honestly the act of parliament under which they have opened their proceedings . But I must hasten on , as it is getting late . There are only one or two other things I wish to mention which have come under my observation in Ireland . You have heard of that ill-fated town Skibbereen . Since my return I have been asked if ail that has heen said of it he true ? I fear that more than we have heard is true . To show the condition of things there now , I may state that I was in the market-place of that town with a gentleman who was travelling with mo , and saw the people who came in from the eountry to sell their turf , it being the season when the towns-people take in their supplies . There was a stout young woman of some

      twenty years , with a " creel , " or basket of turf , offering it for sale . We asked the price . Sho said , " three-halfpence . " A woman standing by said she Would be glad to take a penny . We had it weighed in the market scales , that were close at hand , and found the weight sixty-two pounds . We learned that the poor creature had carried that load on her back over a distance of between eight and nine English miles . ( Sensation . ) It had been cut—it liad been dried—it had been carried all that distance , and the girl only asked three-halfpence , whilst a bystander remarked she would be glad to take a penny . Don ' t suppose that an exaggerated case . We made special inquiry of parties who knew her , and about whose character there could be no mistake , even if she were disposed to overstate the fact ; and I have not the slightest doubt that what she said was true . And you may understand from

      that what the rate of-wages is in Ireland , and how it is that hundreds and thousands of your fellow countrymen , within a few miles of your own shores , are enjoying the blessings of the " British constitution . " ( A laugh . ) But Skibbereen had other sights than this , I went towarls the union workhouse , with the chairman of the guardians , and when we got to the corner of a held which was fenced in , and had oats growing in it , on the quarter of an acre of ground lay the remains of six hundred people—men , women , and children—who had not , as you may think , been buried in coffins , but in the , rags they died in—buried in trenches , as men are buried after a sanguinary : battle ; and at some future day it may be , when a more prosperous time

      has come for Ireland , some antiquarian , perhaps , may be called on to account for the number of human bones there interred . Why , he may tell of wars , and he may tell of battles , but there is no war in which this country was ever engaged , and no series of battles in any campaign of war known among men , that have left behind them such sorrowful and many victims as have fallen beneath " thefierce war for life" which has continued in Ireland for the last few years . ( Loud cheers . ) There is no over-population in Ireland . In travelling from Dublin to the south , and up again to the west , and again to Mayo and 6 . ilway , there is not a sign of over population . I was against a forced emigration , under the conduct of either the

      poor-law guardians , or of the government , Before going to Ireland . I am infinitely more against" it now . The fact is , vast tracts of country are almost a wilderness of desolation ; and I tell you that I believe vermin were never hunted from their holes with more ferocity and relentless determination than have been used , and used for the last two or three years , against vast multitudes in that country . You aro told that the Irish proprietors are being ruined by the poor-rates . Ay ! but if it hadn ' t been for that tax , they would have been " clean gone' from the face of the earth many years since . Hoi doubt it is beggaring many who are searchable , to pay it . But it affords tho only means of supporting the 237 , 000 persons who were in Irish

      workhouses m June last , and tho other 800 , 000 who were receiving out-door relief . The poor-law is ; a law of mercy to tbat poor and afflicted population , and T entertain the hope that , while its pressure is on the landlord and on the tenant , audou all who may be able to pay , it may direct the intelligence of all to perceive , and the hearts of all to feel , T i th , at ' wifca ! l 11 these blessings of nature , there should be in that land of suffering persons whose" woes are not to bo equalled by those which we sometimes see fall on the brute creation . I wish it were possible to convey something ofthe feelings which afflicted my own mind as I passed through some districts , and witnessed the scenes to be seeii , there ; and yet everybody told me if I had come two months before . I should have seen , things in-.

      finitely worse . ' A f / wnd of mine who has settle * . ' in the west of Ireland ,. said he was three months ; thfrc before he ever saw a smile onthe face of a Child ; that such ' was the misery , such the starvation throughout the whole ofthe district , that they were visible on- every countenance ; ' and yet we are told this is a " visitation of heaven , " that Parliament can t do much for it , and powerful writers in daily and weekly newspapers tell us nothing * can be done for Ireland , whilst her population is in a- state of anarohyand'outrage ' . . '' Why , anarchy , and outrage are the inevitable results of the system under which they live , ( Loud cheering . ) Anarchy and outrage are the bea « ons which guide us to a safer and a better path . What should we hare known of ihe condition of Ireland if it had not been for these outrages ? The proprietors never would have told

      Financial And Parliamentary Befobm. [Spe...

      us . The great institutions of the country were silent about it . Their own Catholic priests told us something about it , it is true ; and they were about tho only parties intimately connected with the people to let us known what was going on . I spoke to a Roman Ca tholic priest , in tho interior of the country , and said , " do you know how you are blamed , but I think calumniated , by those who say you have so much power over the people , that they are worried to death between you and the landlords ? " He said , — "Sir , there ' s too much truth in it , but who is it that gave it to us ? " He admitted it was an undesirable and unhealthy influence which his order exerted over the people ; hut he '

      pointed to the workhouse of tho district and said , ' 'the people there have nobody but us to sympathise with them . "VVcgive them counsel , advice , and at times pecuniary relief . It is not our fault that we have this power , and it is in human nature perhaps that it sometimes should he abused . " But ho said , " Give this population the means of living by steady employment , and you will have a steady and honest industry , an independent class who will soon emerge from their miserable and reckless condition , and then you will have that regenerated morality and religion which is all that we wish . " This is the truth . It is not they who grasp for power , they have it thrust upon them , and it is not for us to rail at them to do

      away with their influence ; hut it is by another proce ' ss—by giving the people power to release themselves from the influence of the priest and tho landlord , and to walk erect as free men living on the fruits of their own industry . ( Cheers . ) Now I have not touched on two questions which are most important . I shall not touch on them tonight farther than just to mention them . Tho one is the utter abolition , ns it were—the melting away of everything like representation in Ireland . The other is the existence of an established church with which the people have no sympathy . These questions are intimately connected with the social condition of Ireland . But I intended to-night to confine myself , and shall entirely , to the question of the tenure and proprietorship of land , Kow , in

      Conclusion , I ask you to look back to the history of this Country ' s connexion with Ireland . Tou will find that our efforts have constantly been made for what is called protestantising Ireland , and suppressing what is called " Catholicism . " Yet Catholicism has been triumphant . In that respect all our measures have been complete failureSi We have endeavoured to sustain the " old blood , " and keep up the " old families , " and the 'largo houses , " by laws restraining the purchase and possession of land . Yet we find them almost wholly ruined , and as much beggared and in as helpless a condition as the multitude whom their system has pauperised . We endeavoured to govern Ireland through a Protestant minority , and found ourselves unable to govern her . Ireland . is not governed now . She is

      one vast camp of armed men . Go and see the constabulary stations . I must admit the constabulary to be an able and useful class of men under the present state of things .. You find them trained and armed , and in reality soldiers—only they have not the dress , that is , the ordinary garb of a soldier . Ireland , I repeat , is one vast camp . Our system has failed . We have more soldiers and armed men than there are electors . ( Cheers . ) A constitutional country—a constitutional government—and yet in one third of the . United Kingdom there is sustained by English taxes a larger number of armed men than there are holders and exercisers of the franchise ! Is not this sufficient to account for the insecurity of life and property ? And , if they are insecure , how by any possibility can industry thrive ,

      property accumulate , or contentment and prosperity spread among the people ? Oh ! I do feel that this state of Ireland is a disgrace and a dishonour to the people and the government of this country ; and I call upon you who are here assembled , whenever you caw to give your influence in favour of such n change ' n those laws as shall place the ' people of Ireland in a fair field , so that the industrious man shall be possessed of a security for tho fruits of his industry . Then 1 am perfectly satisfied that outrage wilLgive way to contentment and harmony , such as jwail , I trust , so extensively in this country . Were . areno other means of getting out of this difficulty than by doing simple justice to Ireland—justice in her political instiutions— -justice in regard to her ecclesiastical condition—justice in

      respect to tho land and to the investments and improvements of the tenant . Freedom , in this respect , is the remedy ; the one , the sole remedy for a disease that has hitherto baffled or seemed to baffle , all the attempts of the statesmen of England in this and the last generation . Rely on it , had a parliament of landed proprietors , with their feudal and aristocratic dominnncy , been disposing of tho property of cotton spinners or manufacturers , they would have seen those economical truths much earlier , and would have practised them in their legislation ; and because of the enormous expenses we are subjected to on account of tho state of things in Ireland , and

      by reason of the difficulty of remedying it , from the constitution of the country , I say I am bound to give in my adherence to the principles which this association intends to carry out . You cannot have economy in expenditure if one-third ofthe United Kingdom is to hare 40 , 000 soldiers , and we cannot have that honest and efficient government for Ireland which is calculated to raise her from her prostrate- condition , unless the mass of the people are recognised as they ought to be by tho " theory" of the constitution in your representative system . The honourable gentleman sat down amid loud and continued cheering .

      Arrival Of Sir John Ross Prom Tbe Arctic...

      ARRIVAL OF SIR JOHN ROSS PROM TBE ARCTIC REGIONS . The Enterprise , Captain Sir James Clarke Eoss , and the Investigator , Captain Bird , arrived off Scarborough on Saturday last , and Sir James arrived express by rail at the Admiralty on Monday morning with the disheartening information that he hud not seen or heard of Sir John Franklin or his party . The arrival of Sir James iu London , and the intelligence communicated by him , was immediately transmitted by the Admiralty to the several port admirals on the home station . The following extracts from private , letters addressed to personal friends , will bo found highly interesting : — " Her Majesty ' s ship Enterprise , atsea , becalmed about forty miles to eastward of Scarborough , Nov . 4 th , 1819 . " We have been boxing about the North Sea these last seven days , having made the Orkney Islands on tho 28 th of October . We got clear of the ice on the

      25 th of September . I have nothing interesting to conimunicate to you , beyond tho fact that we have neither heard nor seen anything of Sir J . Franklin . We wintered in Port Leopold ( entrance of Prince Regent ' s Inlet . ) Sir James C . Ross and a party of seamen set out on a journey to tho westward , along the coast of North Somerset , and was absent from the ship forty days , during which time they must have travelled somewhere about 200 miles , a journey unparalleled in the artic regions . Saw nothing to lead to a belief that Sir John Franklin had touched on that shore . We are all well and hearty at this present time , but we lost four men during our stay in Port Leopold , which place we entered on tho Uth September , 1848 , and got out into opon water , Barrow ' s Strait , on tho 29 th August , 1849 , having been shut up in our winter harbour 342 days .

      " At sea , Int . SO 12 N ., long . 29 E . , Oct . 31 st , 1849 . "Woarc off the coast of Great Britain so far safe and-well , having taken our last look ofthe forlorn and ice-bound shores of Davis's Straits on the 10 th of October . We are all well , and making allowance for the toils and privations unavoidably attendant on similar expeditions , the voyage has been exceedingly comfortable , the greatest harmony having existed between the officers and crew during its progress . , " We have certainly had to grapple with difficulties of no ordinary nature , but thanks to tho energy and dauntless courage of our experienced commander we have triumphantly overcome them all . " The voyage has been replete with incidents

      varied and interesting , which you will see described at some future period by more learned heads than mine ; suffice it to say , that we have had a sufficiency of labour during the two summers we have been gone , and spent rather a cold winter in Port Leopold ( entrance to Prince Regent ' s Inlet , Barrow ' s Strait , lat . 73 50 N ., long . 00 12 W . ); and T hope the most ri g id political economists ( Cobden not excepted ) will hot begrudge us our double pay . " Whatever opinions may he hereafter expressed with regard to the success , or conducting ofthe expedition , lam ready to maintain that all that man could dp has been done by Sir James Ross ; and 1 behove there a-e few but will admit that he is an

      Officer of no { ordinary character , whether as regards nautical skill , or scientific abilities . Sir James seems to have been formed by nature for the arduous service to which through life he has so zealously devoted himself . To great physical power ? , and ' a constitution equal to every privation and fatigue , ho unites every mental qualification necessary to constitute Uiomnn destined to conduct a gtcat ' ;«;< : hazardous enterprise . "We have lost four men through sicknessassistant-surgeon and three A . B . ' s—men whoso constitutions were thoroughly broken prior io leaving England , and in my opinion they could not have Ufcd twelve months longer in any climate , however genial .

      " While I write this I am ignorant of the fato of Sir John Franklin ' s expedition . " I may remark that our consort , the Investigator , is in company with us ; we have never lost sight Of each other during the voyage . "

      " Her Majesty ' s ship Enterprise , ,, off Scarborough , Nov . 4 th . » Here we are again . We did not get out of the

      Arrival Of Sir John Ross Prom Tbe Arctic...

      ice in Barrow ' s Strait until the last week in Septem * ber , which is very lato indeed , so that we had a narrow squeak tor another winter in the ico , and goodness knows how many would have lived to return . Wo found no traces of Sir J . Franklin , although the captain travelled in May and Juno upwards of 200 miles on the W . and N . W . coasts of North Somerset , but could find no traces of them . We wintered at Port Leopold , in lat , about 74 N . and long . 90 W . We were without tho sun for about eighty days , and had the temperature eighty degrees below freezing , by Fahrenheit . I am m a great hurry , and will give you more news in tha next . " ¦

      Captain Sir James Ross arrived at tho Admiralty on Monday , and had interviews with tho board . The gallant officer appeared rather the worse for his perilous voyage , but was animated with his cha » racteristic energy . We understand that it is his confident opinion that neither Sir John Franklin nor any of his bravo companions are eastward of any navigable point in the Arctic regions , and if there be any chance of their existence , it is in the supposition that ho proceeded in a westerly direction , and in such case we can only expect to hear from the missing adventurers by the Mackenzie detachment , or by her Majesty's ship Plover , Commander Moore , by way of Russia . Sir James traversed at least 230 miles on the ice , the bergs of which WOro frightful , much more so than any of the

      experienced Arctic voyagers had seen uetore . Sir James and his party penetrated as far as the wreck of tho Fury , where he found the old tent standing , and everything about it in a state of the best preservation . At this point Sir James deposited a large quantity of provisions , and also the screwlaunch of the Enterprise . The march of Sir Jamea across the boundless regions of ico is truly stated as a most unparalleled feat in exploration . We are sorrj to find , however , that it was in no way successful . In the whole course of his researches it ia said Sir James Ross never met with a single Esquimaux . The Admiralty have ordered a couple of steamers from Woolwich to -the North Sea , to tow up the Enterprise and Investigator to Woolwich to be paid off ; and their lordships have also ordered up from Kirkcaldy the master ofthe whaler Advice , about which bo much has been said .

      The Bermondsey Murder, On Friday, The 2n...

      THE BERMONDSEY MURDER , On Friday , the 2 nd instant , at ten o ' clock , Man * ning had an interview with his brother Edmund , in the presence ofthe Rev . Mr . Roe , the chaplain of the gaol ; Mr . Keenc , the governor ; Mr . Binns , the solicitor ; and the officers ofthe gaol appointed tp be constantly with him . Manning was seated in thd condemned cell , at a small table , and so altered and mentally prostrated that his brother scarcely knew him . Ife shook him fervently by the hand , and held his hand in his grasp for some moments , during which time neither was able to utter a word . At length the brother said , " Surely , Frederick , ' you are not guilty of this horrible charge ? " Manning replied , " No , I am innocent . I have told Mr Roo everything . I have confessed all to him .

      Have I not , Mr . Roc ? ( Mr . Roe nodded assent . ) Edmund , sho murdered him . I was upstairs dressing myself at the time she shot him . I did not know she was going to do so . I had no hand in the murder . Mr . Roe knows I am innocent . " He continued to assert his innocence with much vehemence , and added , in consequence of his brother having asked him if he had not written to his wife urging her to make a full confession , " Yes , and I have authorised you , Mr . Roe , have I not ? over and over again , to get her to see me , because I could put such questions to her that she could not evade . " Mr . Roe replied that ho had done as he said , hut that she had declined to see him . Manning then handed to his brother a copy of the letter

      he had written to his wife , urging ner to coniess , so that the world might know the great disparity between their guilt , for upon the truth of her State * ment depended the issue of life and death to him ; and as she knew he was innocent he implored her to save him from an ignominious death upon the scaffold . The letter concluded by imploring his wife to grant him an interview . Mrs . Manning ' s reply , which wag also shown to the brother , began thus— " I address yon as my husband , " and contained more than once the expression " my dear . " She said , in effect , that she was inno « cent ofthe diabolical charge of which she had heen shamefully convicted , and that he alone could save her . Then upbraiding him with the course he had pursued towards her from the period of his arrest

      up to the trial , she went on to say that he alone could save her ; that sho could not think of granting him an interview until he had stated in writing that she was innocent of Mr . O' Connor's murder . Then followed this remarkable statement : — " You know that the young man from Jersey who was smoking with you in the back parlour committed the murder , and that I was from home when it was committed . " She then stated that she went to fetch O'Connor on the ni « ht of the murder , that he , in the meantime , called at Minver-place ; that the foul deed was committed , and everything cleared away before she returned , and that she knew nothing of the murder until tho Saturday following . ' She added , that if be would make this statement in writing she would grant his request , and see him . Manning ' s brother , after he had perused the letters , exclaimed , " Frederick , she exculpates

      herself from the charge and accuses a third party ; who does she mean ? " He replied , " Her statement is altogether false ; no one accompanied me to Jersey . I know , Edmund , you will believe me when I assert that I am innocent , for you have always been my best friend , and I should never have married that woman if I had listened to your advice . " After a long pause tho brother urged his unhappy relative to make his peace with God , who would receive his soul if he was , as he said , innocent of the . awful crime . He immediately exclaimed again , " My dear Edmund , I am innocent , as Mr . Roe knows perfectly well . I hope God Almighty will commit my soul to hell flames if I am guilty of this murder . Mr . Roe is in possession of the whole of my statement . I have told him all . I declare most solemnly that I shall die innocent of Mr . O'Connor ' s murder . I never hurt a hair of his head . "

      These letters , and some disclosures which it is said Manning offers to make with reference to some robberies in which he has been concerned , will , it is said , be made the ground of an application to the Home Secretary to grant him a respite . The miserable man perseveres in his assertion that his wife committed the murder , and threatened to take his life also unless he became her accomplice . Mrs . Manning still clings to the hope tbat Lady Blantyro or the Duchess of Sutherland will intercede for her and save her life . She continues to dress with great care , eats heartily , and sleeps soundly . She attends chapel every morning , and gives very little trouble to those who watch her . The Sheriffs have appointed Tuesday , the 13 th

      instant , as the day of execution . The convict Manning was on Tuesday permitted to have another interview with his brother , Edmund Manning , who arrived at tho gaol about one o ' clock accompanied by a married sister , who bad come to town for the purpose of seeing hor wretched relative . The Rev . Mr . Rowo , and Mr . Keanc , the governor of tho gaol , were present at the interview , which , as a matter of course , was of an extremely painful nature . After the first outburst of feeling had subsided , the convict was addressed by his brother at some length , and urged to communicate all he knew on tho subject of the murder . Manning expressed his readiness to do so , and commenced by reiterating his former statement , to the effect that his wife shot O'Connor as the latter was procecdintr

      oown stairs to wash his hands , He further stated , that O' Connor had noticed the hole dug in the backkitchen on the occasion of former visits paid to Minver-place , and that ho had been told by Mrs . Manning that it was a drain they were making . On the day ofthe murder , when the unhappy man went down stairs , Manning states that on reaching the back-kitchen , he heard him address his wife , and say , " What , haven't you finished tho drain yet ?" These , he says , were the last words O'Connor uttered , for immediately afterwards he heard the report of a pistol , and then a heavy fall on tho floor . The wretched man , in answer to other questions put to him by his brother , has confessed that he pledged a pair of pistols , with one of which the deceased was shot , on the evening ofthe day his wife left town , being at tbe time almost penniless . He has also confessed where the watches beloncinf

      to the lato Patrick O'Connor , and the crow-bar with whioh the murder was completed , may be found . The brother , Edmund Manning , on taking leave promised to see the convict again on Saturday ( this day ) but the sister took a last farewell . Manning is more resigned to his fate than he was for two or three days after conviction . At first he would neither eat nor drink for some hours together but he now takes his meals regularly , and expresses himself prepared for tho awful chaijo-e he has to undergo , lie is not less anxious than heretofore to have an interview with hh wife , but she positively refuses to see him . Edmund Wanning , when , at the prison on Tuesday , sought to obtain an interview with her , but she declined to sec either hnti or his sifter . There has he- n no application to sec the female convict on the part of her ovru friends since her conviction .

      COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL , EXCHEQUER CHAMBER . % THE QUEEN y . MARU MASKING . WEDNEsDAy . -This being the day appointed for the hearing of the appeal in the above case , the following judges assembled in the Exchequer Chamber at ten o ' clock : Lord Chief Justice Wilde , the Lord Chief Baron , Mr . Justice Coleridge , Mr . Justice Creaawell , Mr . Baron Rolfe , and Mr . Baron Piatt . The merits of the case having been stated by Mr . Ballantine on behalf of the female prisoner , and replied to b y the Attorney-General , the learned judges retired from the court for tho purpose f >

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 10, 1849, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_10111849/page/7/